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There’s a reason high-country lakes are such a favored destination for hikers and backpackers: These mirrored gems, with their inverse images of peaks and domes, are special anchors of the alpine landscape; their rocky or marshy shores seem to demand a few moments -- or hours -- of reverent meditation. Lakes are plentiful in the Sierra Nevada, that boldly beautiful, 400-mile-long rampart of granite separating the arid Great Basin from the pastoral valleys and coastal ranges of maritime California. From a seasonal snowmelt pool to huge fault-block “inland seas,” Sierra lakes are worth putting up with every switchback and mosquito hatch.

Types of Lakes

Better than 2,000 lakes of glacial origin are scattered throughout the Sierra Nevada -- testament to the huge landform-sculpting influence Pleistocene glaciers had on the range. Some of these, called “tarns,” occupy rock basins scooped out by ice; others are dammed behind levees of glacially deposited sediment called moraines. Both may be found in the staggered series of lakes called paternoster lakes that mark the “treads” of glacial staircases dropping down from high cirques. There are also kettle lakes, pooled in hollows within moraines, as in California's Golden Trout Wilderness. Tectonic activity can form lake basins: Lake Tahoe occupies a faulted trough between the Sierra to the west and the Carson Range to the east. Landslides off steep Sierra slopes may dam streams or confuse drainage enough to create lakes, as in Mirror Lake in Yosemite National Park -- which, following natural patterns of lake succession, is disappearing as sediment deposits transform it into a sodden meadow. There are, of course, also man-made lakes in the range: reservoirs such as Lake Oroville at the head of the Feather River mainstem in the northern Sierra and Lake Isabella near the chain’s southern terminus.

Extremes

Myriad tiny lakes inhabit the glacially sculpted High Sierra, but the range also includes enormous examples -- most notably Lake Tahoe, which, at some 190 square miles across, is North America’s biggest alpine lake. Another giant is Thousand Island Lake, a massive tarn in the Ritter Range named for its numerous rock outcrops. The Sierra also contain one of the continent’s highest-elevation lakes: Tulainyo Lake, a kettle lake north of Mount Whitney that sits at 12,800 feet.

Recreation

Mountain lakes are magnets for outdoor recreationists, and those of the Sierra Nevada are no different. A landmark of Yosemite National Park -- one of the most visited national parks in the country -- is Tenaya Lake above Tenaya Canyon, popular among boaters and cold-tolerant swimmers. Lake Tahoe is world-famous for its abundance of activities, from water-skiing to sailing. Photographers covet High Sierra lakes for crepuscular light shows and the visual feasts of reflected snowfields and granite spires.

Considerations

High-country backpackers should be cognizant of the fragility of subalpine and alpine lakes and the associated ecosystems. In many mountain reserves, lakeside camping is either banned or restricted to established sites; beyond regulations, backpackers might consider only visiting these ethereal spots and then leaving to camp down in the woods or other more durable and dispersed locales. Regardless of your setting, camp and dispose of dishwater and human waste at least 200 feet from a lake.

Resources

About the Author

Ethan Shaw is a writer and naturalist living in Oregon. He has written extensively on outdoor recreation, ecology and earth science for outlets such as Backpacker Magazine, the Bureau of Land Management and Atlas Obscura. Shaw holds a Bachelor of Science in wildlife ecology and a graduate certificate in geographic information systems from the University of Wisconsin.